Overview

Rumi's poetry has been published in various English editions since the 19th century. And there has been no shortage of translators. Today, through the translations of Coleman Barks, he is the best-selling poet in the English language. The market for his poems is insatiable. He has a loyal following of English readers and serious devotees. Still, in English, Rumi's poems have often been rendered into a literal and academic prose that is awkward and wooden -- or into a New-Age idiom that bears little relationship to the author's original text or his context.

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9781940468006

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 Banani and Lee convey the light touch of Rumi's rare rubaiyat with inventive craft and deep understanding. Victoria Holbrook, translator of Listen: Commentary on the Spiritual Couplets of Rumi What could be more exciting than to have the vast erudition of Amin Banani and the spiritual sensibility of Anthony A. Lee applied to bringing Rumi's poetry into English? A tour de force that no one interested in the work of the great Persian Sufi master can afford to miss!  Juan Cole, Professor of Middle East History, University of Michigan, author of Engaging the Muslim World Rumi's rubaiyat were almost certainly thrown off extempore and recorded by his disciples; in these clear, accurate, vivid, and very beautiful versions we come as close as is possible in English to catching the evanescent moment of composition, the thought as it flickers from Rumi's mind out into the world.  Richard Davis, Professor Emeritus, Ohio State University; translator of The Conference of the Birds, and The Shahnameh The volume here features a collaboration between a master of Persian poetry and a distinguished American poet. These collaborations may well be the necessary model needed to come up with translations that are both faithful to the original and beautiful in the new language. Rumi lovers will no doubt appreciate this new collaboration. Omid Safi, Professor of Islamic thought, University of North Carolina, author of Progressive Muslims

Banani and Lee convey the light touch of Rumi's rare rubaiyat with inventive craft and deep understanding. Victoria Holbrook, translator of Listen: Commentary on the Spiritual Couplets of Rumi What could be more exciting than to have the vast erudition of Amin Banani and the spiritual sensibility of Anthony A. Lee applied to bringing Rumi's poetry into English? A tour de force that no one interested in the work of the great Persian Sufi master can afford to miss! --Juan Cole, Professor of Middle East History, University of Michigan, author of Engaging the Muslim World Rumi's rubaiyat were almost certainly thrown off extempore and recorded by his disciples; in these clear, accurate, vivid, and very beautiful versions we come as close as is possible in English to catching the evanescent moment of composition, the thought as it flickers from Rumi's mind out into the world. --Richard Davis, Professor Emeritus, Ohio State University; translator of The Conference of the Birds, and The Shahnameh The volume here features a collaboration between a master of Persian poetry and a distinguished American poet. These collaborations may well be the necessary model needed to come up with translations that are both faithful to the original and beautiful in the new language. Rumi lovers will no doubt appreciate this new collaboration. Omid Safi, Professor of Islamic thought, University of North Carolina, author of Progressive Muslims

Author Information

Amin Banani is an emeritus professor of history and Persian literature at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of Mysticism and Poetry in Islam: The Heritage of Rumi and Persian Literature. He has pioneered the literary translation of contemporary Iranian poets. Anthony A. Lee lives in the Los Angeles area. He teaches African American history at the University of California, Los Angeles, and at West Los Angeles College. He was awarded the Nat Turner Poetry Award (2003). He has received the Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award (2005) and the Merton Institute's Poetry of the Sacred award (2012).

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